Basic Grounds for Asylum

To establish eligibility for asylum, you must prove you are either the victim of past persecution or you have a well-founded fear of future persecution. In order to demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution, you will need to show both subjective and objective reasonable fear. A subjective fear means that you, personally, really do fear returning to your country of origin. An objective fear means that you can demonstrate facts, based on objective sources of evidence or your and other witnesses’ persuasive, credible testimony, that any reasonable person would fear persecution in your position.
In the case of past persecution, you must prove that you were persecuted in your home country or last country of residence.

The persecution must have been based on at least one of five grounds, either your:

  • Race
  • Religion
  • Nationality
  • Political opinion, or
  • Membership in a particular social group.

Proving this connection between the persecution and one of these five grounds is one of the most difficult parts of an application for asylum status. Even if you believe that all hope may be lost, our experienced attorneys will take the time to sit with you, strategize and learn more about your specific immigration issue.